Home Assistant is preparing a broad change to the way devices and entities are named in its smart home platform. The revised system is scheduled for the forthcoming 2026.11 release and follows a delay intended to incorporate feedback from beta testers.
The update will apply a more consistent set of naming rules across the platform. Home Assistant said the migration will happen automatically when users update, although some entity names may appear different afterward, particularly when an entity’s current name does not begin with the name of its device.
The change addresses several naming layers that were introduced at different points in Home Assistant’s development. The platform added a central registry in 2018, area naming in 2019, standalone integration names in 2022, and floors and labels as independent naming elements in 2024. Home Assistant said the accumulated rules did not always work consistently together.
“Just before the 2026.4 release, we pulled a change to entity naming in Home Assistant. You'd tested it in beta, told us what you didn't like, and we listened. It took a few extra months, but we believe it's now in a better place.”
That statement came from Artur Pragacz of Home Assistant, who also said that the organization expects most existing names to carry over as users would expect. The revised approach is intended to prevent the same information from being repeated across a device, its area and its individual entities.
New hierarchy for devices and entities
Home Assistant’s example uses a floor called “Ground floor,” an area named “Kitchen,” and a device identified as “Coffee machine.” The device’s entities are then labeled “Power” and “Energy,” rather than repeating the location and device name in each entry.
The platform will use the surrounding page or view to provide context. On a kitchen area page, for example, the device can be displayed as “Coffee machine” because the area is already identified. On the device page, the device heading supplies the context for the related entities.
- Device names: the primary identifier for a physical product.
- Child device naming: an expanded structure for equipment associated with a parent device.
- Entity names: shorter labels such as “Power” and “Energy” when the device context is already visible.
- Automatic migration: existing installations will be updated as part of the software upgrade.
For professionals and advanced users maintaining Home Assistant installations, the change places greater emphasis on predictable naming across the platform. The automatic migration is intended to reduce manual work, while the beta feedback process indicates that the naming behavior was adjusted before the 2026.11 release. Home Assistant has not presented the update as a new hardware platform or a new connectivity standard; it is a software and information-organization change within the existing system.
